


In Retrospect

by starkind



Category: Batman (Movies - Nolan), DC Cinematic Universe, Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Attempt at Humor, Awkward Flirting, Billionaire Problems, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Gen, One Shot, Pre-Avengers (2012), Pre-The Dark Knight Rises
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-06
Updated: 2015-02-06
Packaged: 2018-03-10 19:07:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3300401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starkind/pseuds/starkind
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How the planning of the Stark Expo could have gone; an AU version</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Retrospect

**Author's Note:**

> Here goes nothing, aka - nobody's going to read this anyhow, but yeah! 
> 
> First things first - I don't own anything; neither Marvel's nor DC's characters, but that was about to be expected. Second - I'm not even sure where my obsession comes from, but I love both Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne with a passion. Third - this is written with heavy emphasis to their movie incarnations, based on my meager knowledge of comic verse(s). And of course, totally AU. 
> 
> Completely and utterly unbeta'ed, like all of my stuff. No native speaker here - constructive feedback appreciated.

In retrospect, it was all Tony’s fault.  
  
Why that did not surprise her earlier, Pepper Potts had no idea. Over the years, she had gotten used to blaming Tony for many things that had gone awry: Be that meetings he did not attend, deadlines he missed, or lawsuits filed against him for whatever inappropriate reason – Pepper had seen it all and more than just her fair share.

After Iron Man and all of the hullabaloo that had ensued, however, things changed or at least started to shift. When Tony ushered his company into a new era, it had some kind of ‘from zero to hero’ vibe that gave a powerful surge throughout Stark Industries and shushed any previous naysayer. Not long after his superhero revelation, Tony had the idea of bringing the Stark Expo back to life.

It had been a project initiated by the very Howard Stark way back in the 50s, and now sadly only consisted of dusty chipboard panels from the last expo that had taken place in 1974, which were rotting away in a storage room at HQ ever since. Whatever came over the billionaire to suddenly feel like reviving the spirit of his father was completely beyond Pepper’s imagination.

Paired with the fact that Tony seemed more erratic and distant towards her than usual, she decided to keep her mouth shut and do as she was told: Get in touch with the New York Department of Parks and Recreation to have an option on the grounds in Flushing Meadows, Queens, get exhibitors and sponsors on board and organize their appearances and individual pavilion designs.

May 7th, 2010 should mark the grand opening, and until then, there was a lot which needed to be done. The exhibitor-finding part turned out to be the easiest; in fact, nearly every company wanted to be associated with Iron Man and Tony Stark these days. Pepper Potts even had the event department warding off plenty of lesser fitting inquires, seeing Tony only wanted visionary, powerful companies exhibiting at his Expo.

Stark subsidiaries like Cordco in Australia, Fujikawa from Tokyo and Accutech, California were the first ones to get the go-ahead to design and furnish their pavilions without requiring too much supervision or support from their parent company. Big brand companies like LG, Kodak, 7 -11, Symantec, Oracle, Audi and many more were on board after not even a month.

When Wayne Enterprises from Gotham City appeared on the screen to inquire about possible exhibition space, Pepper was hesitant at first.

After meeting the very Mister Bruce Wayne himself for the first time -all designer suit; tall, dark hair and hazel eyes- her hesitation began to falter. When Tony learned about it, he just smiled his trademark grin, slapped a hand upon the other man’s firm shoulder, and welcomed Wayne to the show. Pepper knew Tony liked competition because he was convinced none of them could actually hold a candle to his own conglomerate.

Needless to say, everything could have worked out well from that point on, had it not been for the very Tony Stark foiling her plans.

After an oral agreement with Wayne Enterprises on the phone about reserving the skydome pavilion, Pepper was furious beyond belief to find out several days later that Tony had haphazardly donated said pavilion to Oracle Corp. on a night out with their managers and plenty of beautiful hostesses. All of her efforts to motivate him to revoke his decision failed, and resulted in Tony all but ordering her to call Wayne off.

Their quarrel went up to the point where he threatened her to give the other billionaire a call himself and do it in his very own way. Of course, his assistant caved in- the last thing Pepper Potts wanted or needed was a high-class beef between two of America’s most powerful companies, just because Tony had succumbed to the temptation of half-naked, long-legged bribery tools instead of forging new alliances.

To make matters worse, Pepper was forced to apologize to Bruce Wayne in person.

Fate had it planned for the young billionaire to take another day off-duty from business in Gotham, and he had decided to make it a spontaneous on-site visit. He was accompanied by a black man who was none other than Lucius Fox, and Pepper had not felt as awkward and silly in ages as she stood in front of the pavilion in question and babbled excuses. The situation would be spelling doom for any future collaboration plans.

Much to her luck, Wayne did not even seem offended or angry at her stammered out apologies. He simply shrugged, flashed a dazzling grin and leaned over to his companion. After he had spoken a few hushed words with Fox, the latter nodded, pulled out a cell phone and excused himself to talk somewhere undisturbed in the distance. Pepper watched him go with a slight frown on her face.

Left to stand next to Bruce Wayne in the middle of the large fairgrounds alone, Pepper shifted on her feet and clung onto the clipboard in her arms. She had no idea if her peace offer of renting another pavilion was appreciated, but figured Wayne and Fox most probably were too polite to downright refuse her makeshift solution. From the corner of her eye, she noticed the Gothamite watching her with an amused look on his face.

“No offense Miss Potts, but you’re looking as miserable as sin. Shouldn’t that be my part?”  
Despite the situation, Pepper had to smirk, even though it came out more of a grimace.  
“I’m really sorry about what happened, Mister Wayne. I wish it wasn’t like that.”

He gave a wistful sigh, shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants, and turned towards the offending real estate object. With a small nod, he cocked his head. “Yeah, truly a shame. Lucius really would have liked it." Not knowing what to say, Pepper wished for the earth to open up and swallow her. She glanced over to where Fox was still on the phone and bit her lip.

As if on cue, Bruce Wayne got serious. “Now, now, Miss Potts. I’m just kidding, it's really no big deal. Please stop looking so sad, you’re far too pretty for that.” Unsure whether the Gothamite either pulled her leg, flirted with her or both got through her shame-ridden thoughts, and Pepper looked up at him. A suave smile flittered across his features and, with a quick gesture towards Fox, Bruce Wayne gallantly offered her his arm.  
  
“I’m most definitely _interested_ , Miss Potts. Why don’t you give me a tour around the site and show me what you're talking about?”  
Smiling back at him, Pepper took his arm. Her grin got even bigger when she saw a familiar white Audi R8 convertible rolling onto the fairground.  
“Oh, it’ll be my pleasure, Mister Wayne.”

~fin~  



End file.
